Throughout the centuries, there have been many people who were accused of witchcraft,
but most of them were women.
It was very easy for men to accused their partners and other women of this crime, and
many were sentenced to death for being witches.
Some were forced to go to trial, and were dunked in Rivers and drowned, but across England
and Scotland there were lots of women being executed on the gallows.
But there was one man who was a rather prominent nobleman across England during Elizabeth I’s
reign, who found himself also accused of witchcraft onboard a ship which was captained by Sir
Francis Drake.
But Doughty’s head was hacked from his shoulder’s after this accusation, and he remains one
of the only men who during the Tudor times was executed for witchcraft.
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Thomas Doughty was born in 1545, and he was a nobleman, scholar, soldier but also a personal
secretary to Christopher Hatton, a favourite of Elizabeth I who sat as a judge that condemned
Mary Queen of Scots to death.
However he became a close friend of Francis Drake.
It’s said that Doughty and Drake were close during Drake’s military involvement in Ireland,
and the pair along with John Winter left Plymouth in 1577 to travel to Alexandria.
The mission was to actually mess with Spanish treasure ships in the new world, and the three
had shared responsibility for the mission, but Drake then took command of the expedition.
It’s likely that Elizabeth I did not know about this mission, as raiding Spanish ships
could have been seen as an act of warfare, but there was friction between Francis Drake
and Thomas Doughty, after Drake taking control.
He was clearly the right man to do so as he was more experienced, but Doughty was then
given command of a captured Portuguese ship known as the Santa Maria, but there were significant
problems between Drake and Doughty by this point.
Thomas Doughty was even more outraged when he caught Drake’s brother Thomas stealing
from the captured treasure onboard of Doughty’s ship, but then Drake took control of this
ship.
He renamed it the Mary, and he reassigned Doughty to command his own flagship The Pelican.
But as the three set sail, the further tension increased, and Drake then demoted Doughty
out of this.
He forced him to command a tiny and small vessel which was called the Swan, and Doughty
believed that this would be a huge insult to his skills, and he then became dissenting
against Drake, and then began to complain to other sailors about him.
However during the voyage there was a huge storm which split the Swan up from the Fleet,
and with this Drake believed that Doughty was abandoning him or was turning against
him.
He then also became obsessed with the fact he believed Doughty was practising witchcraft
or was interfering with the dark arts.
But on the 17th May 1578, he linked back up with the fleet, and with this Doughty and
Drake had a huge argument.
In this, Drake hit Doughty and then as the commander he ordered Doughty to be tied to
the mast of his ship.
But then he was placed under house arrest, and was held in his quarters onboard the ship,
and the sailors were prevented from speaking to him.
Drake then levelled the infamous charge of witchcraft against Thomas Doughty, and he
said he was ‘a conjurer and a seditious person,’ and he said his brother was a ‘witch
and a poisoner.’
But Drake’s fleet arrived at Puerto San Julian on the 20th June 1578.
Doughty was then placed on trial for witchcraft 10 days later, and he was charged with mutiny
also and treason, but Doughty appealed to be taken back to England to be tried, as he
believed that this would be fairer for him.
But Drake would not allow this, and Doughty then asked Drake to state how he was able
to place someone on trial, and he believed he could not do this as he had not been given
permission to do this from Elizabeth I. Drake did not have this power, and a lawyer friend
of Doughty claimed that ‘this is not law not agreeable to justice,’ and drake said,
‘I have not, to do with you crafter lawyers, neither care I for the law, but I know what
I will do.’
But the evidence against Doughty was because he had made a number of seditious claims against
drake during arguments.
There were two particular pieces of evidence which were shocking, and damning, one was
the testimony of Edward Bright, the onboard carpenter which was denied by Doughty, and
Doughty revealed that he had told William Cecil, the Queens chief advisor the true purpose
of the plundering mission.
This would have led Drake to get into trouble with Elizabeth I, and drake himself could
have been sentenced to death for treason and being a war monger.
His actions could have plunged England into war with the Spanish, and this would have
angered Drake that Doughty revealed this.
But Thomas Doughty was found guilty by the strange court, and Drake did not produce a
royal commission granting his death sentence, as Elizabeth I had to sign the death warrant
of any of her subjects.
Drake said Doughty was a threat to his life, and the men then agreed to back him.
Doughty said he should have been released once the ships arrived at Peru, but drake
did not like this and he said he would turn against the English and treasonously turn
to the Spanish.
But John Winter offered to keep Doughty locked up on his ship, but this was not popular with
his crew and with this Doughty’s execution was then confirmed.
Doughty asked that he and Drake the former friends had communion together, and it was
said that, ‘And after this holy repast, they dined also at the same table together,
as cheerfully, in sobriety, as ever in their lives they had done aforetime, each cheering
up the other, and taking their leave, by drinking each to other, as if some journey only had
been in hand."
But on the 2nd July 1578, Thomas Doughty was beheaded by axe, and his head was taken from
his body.
Following this, Drake changed the name of his ship to the Golden Hind to honour Christopher
Hatton to gain favour with Hatton who Doughty was also very close to and to gain favour
with him.
Some believed that Doughty had been a spy who had been tasked to spy on Drake for William
Cecil, but the execution of Doughty haunted Drake when he came back to England.
His brother John Doughty then tried to gain some legal action against Drake, and there
was much belief that false testimony had been gathered to just execute Doughty.
But Thomas Doughty was a man who served as the Personal Secretary of Christopher Hatton,
one of Elizabeth I’s favourites, and he was definitely a man who would have attended
the royal court at times.
However his execution in Puritan San Julian was a shocking act in which Francis Drake
decided to get rid of him.
The pair were close at times, but Doughty was a man who was offended by Drake’s experience
and command of the voyage, and this jealous brought him into trouble but he was a man
who was probably unfairly executed, and was unfairly accused of witchcraft.
But today he’s remembered as one of the only men to be executed for witchcraft during
the Tudor Period.
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